The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-07-27
COLORADO LETTER.
The Garden of the G DDS, and other Points
OF Interest In the Far West.
Special Sentinel Letter,

o. AuttEcet III the Fdr west
Special Sentinel Letter.
GARDEN or THE GoDs, July 15.-This
place has been written about, photo
graphed and painted more frequently and
more deliberately than any other SPOT in
Colorado; and yet words, photograph and
painting, each and all, fall far short of
presenting this wonderful place to absent
ones as it presents itself to the beholder.
The genius of man can not transplant it.
To be fully appreciated it must be seen
Small photographs give very erroneous
idea OF the vast proportions of some of its
objects OF interest. The gateway rises on
each SIDE to height of $50 feet, on one
side blood red, and on the other white as
snow. On the way you pass Balance Rock,
weighing over 100 tons, and standing on a
base three feet in diameter. One feels
tempted to go up to it aud
push it over, and yet moth.
ing short of giant powder could
shake it in the least.
Throughout the Garden these rocks take
fantastic shapes and are not inaptly named
the Dutchman, Turtle, Old Mother Grundy,
Siamese Twins, Seal and Bear, Camel, But.
falo and Lions head, and so on almost ad
minimum. A person with a lively imsgi-
nation will see resem blances TO faces aud
animals every where. Millions OF years
have Deen required to prepare this Garden
of the God ,sfor il is all the work of erosion
The rocks are red and white sandstone and
not volcsnic.
MsDitou with a population of ], 300 is
TWO miles and a half away. This Is the
pond where you leave the railway and
when you go to make arrangements for
conveyance over to the Garden you are
told it is four miles. If you can succeed
in making up party of five they will take
von tor me d0llar each
: Msnitou is filled with spacious hotels
and numerous boarding houses. Livery
stables do driving and charging business.
The place is filled with mineral springs.
Gree Greenwood's cottage is pointed out
to the tourists, and very ordinary cottage
it is; still it is a better cottage than muss
of US have at Manitou.
The base of Pixies Peak is everyw here
present and its summit, covered with
snow, is twelve miles away and II, 147 feet
high. They go up on horseback, and it
takes all day to make the trip up aud
down. Iron Springs, Rainbow Falls, Cave
OF the Winds, Glen Eyrie, Grand Cayerns,
Crystal Park and many other places OF in
terest are within Ieasy reach OF Manitou.
Hundreds of visitors are now stopping at
Manitou, drinking the health giving wa
tiers and visiting localities of interest.
Nearly all of the railroads that run out
lIOn OcufcI w Luceo pdIhs, SdIuenS duO
springs are narrow gauge roads. The day
we visited this place we noticed that ont
of seven trains ready to start, five of them
were narrow gauge.
Manitou is eighty miles from Denver and
the journey is interesting. The elements
make war on the jagged mountain peaks.
The frosts of winter and heat of summer,
the wind and the rain all conspire to level
their proud battlements. Piece by piece
they crumble away-sometimes 1t is but
dust and sand that is dislodged and again
pieces of rock weighing tons and tons are
hurled with Titanic force into the valley
below. All this debris rests at,the foot of
the mountain, and in the course of time is
covered with grass and shruobery. This
building process goes on until the noun.
tain is covered with verdure. Just before
the tep is reached the projecting and still
naked rocks present the appearance OF 90
old ruined castle. Many such appear on
the road to Mathematics in variety,
size and shape. One town on the way is
named Castle Rock, from one of these ruins
near it. The journey seems short, for you
are continually employed looking at
strange and fascinating scenery.